A Night to Remmber
by Kristen3
Summary: Niles has planned a romantic dinner for two to celebrate Daphne's birthday. When a mishap occurs, Niles is sure the night is ruined. One-shot.


Daphne felt a rush of excitement as she and Niles entered the restaurant. Even now that they were married with a baby, her husband still insisted on celebrating her birthday. Martin and Ronee had graciously offered to spend the evening bonding with David to allow Niles and Daphne to have a romantic dinner for two.

The details for this dinner were a secret. Niles assured his wife he'd taken care of all the details. Daphne knew this would mean a four-star restaurant. Niles' tastes for fine food and wine had not changed a bit over the years. "Right this way," the host said, directing them to the table Niles had specially asked for. He knew the owner of this place very well, so this had been easy to arrange.

When they were left alone at their secluded table, Niles reached over to take his wife's hand. "I hope you enjoy this dinner, my love. It's the least I can do for all things you've done for me since the moment we met. I know you were expecting a family celebration, but we haven't had much time together lately. I hope you don't mind."

Daphne smiled. "This place is lovely. I spend most of me time taking care of a baby, so this is a nice change."

Before Niles could respond, a waitress appeared, carrying a bottle of wine. When Niles noticed the young woman, he couldn't help being surprised.

The waitress noticed his expression. "I know you requested Christina, but she's sick tonight, so I'm filling in. My name's Julia."

Niles suddenly felt nervous. He didn't like the idea of his special dinner with Daphne being in the hands of someone he'd never met before. Gourmet dinners were a regular part of his life, and ordinarily this would be just a minor detail. But this was for Daphne. When it came to her, he would accept nothing less than perfection. "All right," he said, trying to remain calm.

Julia smiled, and Niles had to admit it did ease his fears a bit. She held the wine bottle up for Niles' inspection. He nodded at her. He'd been very specific about his choice of wine for this evening. Once she got the OK from him, Julia carefully poured some of the wine into his glass. It was clear that she was as nervous about this as Niles was. No doubt her boss had informed her what a good customer Niles was and that he deserved first-class treatment.

When Niles' glass had been filled, Julia turned to Daphne. She was not normally a wine drinker, as her husband was, but she could tell he'd ordered this bottle for both of them. She reluctantly agreed. Julia began pouring. She must have sensed the way Niles was watching her intently. Her nerves seemed to have increased tenfold. Unfortunately, the resulting unsteadiness in her hands caused some wine to miss the glass. Daphne's beautiful dress now had a very large stain. "Oh, my God," Julia said when she realized what she'd done. "I'm so sorry. Oh, God."

Seeing that this poor young woman was obviously upset, Daphne smiled. "It's all right. Accidents happen."

"Daphne, are you sure? I mean, your dress!" Niles could hardly believe this was happening.

"Yes. Let me just go into the ladies' room and see if I can contain the damage a bit." She smiled at Julia one more time, hoping to put the girl at ease.

"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Crane."

"It's all right. Really." With that, Daphne left the table.

As soon as his wife as gone, Niles felt the familiar wave of panic. He'd planned this dinner to the last detail, even specifically requesting a first-class waitress. But fate hadn't been on his side, apparently.

"Should I bring your entrees?" Julia asked. "Or would you like me to wait until your wife comes back?"

Niles didn't know what to say. But the last thing on his mind right now was food. "Um, I think we'd better wait," he finally said.

"All right, then," Julia replied. "I'm so, _so_ sorry."

Somehow, Niles managed a nervous smile. Daphne was certainly handling this situation with far more grace than he would have.

Daphne returned a moment later. The spot on her dress was somewhat less visible, but it was definitely still there.

"Would you like to go home?" Niles asked.

"Of course not, Niles. You planned all of this just for me, and I want to enjoy our meal."

"But after what just happened? I have a good mind to call the owner and let him know. I can't believe -"

Suddenly, Daphne leaned forward, kissing her husband in order to make him stop talking. "Let it go. That poor girl is probably embarrassed to death as it is, and I don't think we should make her feel any worse."

"But I wanted this night to be perfect for you, Daphne!"

Daphne smiled. "Niles, it already is perfect. I'm here with you. That's all I really need. You know that."

"Oh, my love," Niles sighed, looking at her. "I know you don't really need a fancy dinner like this. But you've always worked hard, especially when you worked for Frasier, taking care of Dad. And now that you're mine, I just want to do everything I can to let you know how important you are to me. And, while this may be a bit over-the-top, it's simply the best way I know of to do that."

"You make me feel special every day. For years, I've heard Roz talk about her troubles with men, not to mention raising Alice on her own. But I never have to worry about those things. You make me life seem like a fairytale sometimes. And David couldn't have a better dad."

Where just a few moments ago, Niles had felt that his night was surely ruined, he now felt on top of the world. But, of course, Daphne had been making him feel that way since the beginning. He had all but forgotten the earlier incident. He signaled to Julia and asked her to bring their meals out now.

"Right away," Julia said. Though she did not mention it, it was clear she was still well aware of what she'd done. But after she left, Niles and Daphne exchanged an unspoken glance. They would pretend it had never happened. Niles could hardly wait to enjoy the meal he'd chosen for this evening. Though it had not gone entirely as planned, he knew this was a night he and Daphne would remember forever.

**The End**


End file.
